Everyone loves a good mystery, especially when it involves an age-old family secret. Iris Rogers, who manages her family's farm, the Old Homestead, in New York, recently revealed that her search for the deeds to the property had led her to a potential fortune.
So rumour has it, her great-grandfather, Elbert Rogers, hid the documents in an empty milk jug, which he stashed somewhere on the farm.
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Well, last month, Iris, who runs a CBD business from the farm, decided to document her search for the elusive deeds, sharing the results on TikTok.
And while I'm sorry to say she may not have found them, the 27-year-old did come across a piece of art that could be worth up to $30,000.
The bizarre scavenger hunt was explained over a series of videos to her channel.
She said: "Long ago, in the year of 1787, my ancestor Clarke Rogers signed the deed for 559 acres of land - the same land we live on today.
"The deed was handed down from generation to generation, and the story goes that my great-grandfather Elbert used to keep the deed in a milk can for safekeeping, because, ya know, that's a safe place to keep it.
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"The good news is that my grandpa Cliff and grandma Nancy got their hands on it at some point, made a copy of it and transcribed it to the best of their ability, which ended up being a really good call because eventually, the deed did go missing.
"And the story is that the milk jug the deed was kept in for safekeeping was eventually filled with milk and sent out for a delivery one day.
"But I started thinking about how many old milk cans we have lying around the farm, and did it really actually go missing?"
This set her off on a trail to find the long lost deed, searching every milk can she could get her hands on.
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But while she was unable to track down the elusive jug, Iris's search was not in vain.
Eventually, she stumbled across an old pamphlet, which had been put in one of the old cans, and had the instructions 'top of the stairs, to the left' written on it.
Over the course of a few weeks, Iris went off on a scavenger hunt, finding more and more clues, often hidden in books and on postcards, until she returned to the family's horse barn.
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And while she admits that she was almost at the end of her tether by this point, one final sweep of the house revealed a hidden cupboard.
Inside was a framed copy print of a Currier and Ives lithograph. But that's not all.
After a little more digging, Iris discovered that this was just a further clue to the real heirloom, an original Currier and Ives lithograph print, which her aunt had had all these years without even knowing what it was.
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And after speaking to some experts about the piece, Iris says it could be worth anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000.
Featured Image Credit: Iris Rogers
Topics: Viral, Art, US News, New York, Weird, TikTok